An illegal immigrant who turned cannabis gardener to pay his debts to people traffickers has been jailed.
Indrit Stuparu, from Albania, was told he could repay those who smuggled him into the UK by tending to the drugs factory.
When police raided a house in Hetton-le-Hole, Sunderland, on December 21 last year, they found Stuparu with 168 cannabis plants.
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Prosecutor Ian West told Newcastle Crown Court : "He said that he had been required to tend to the plants by people who threatened to harm his family in his homeland Albania and they required him to work off the debt he had incurred from his transfer to the UK."
Mr West said the farm was capable of producing a "significant quantity" of cannabis, for commercial use.
Stuparu, 27, of no fixed address, admitted producing cannabis and was jailed for 13 months.
Judge Edward Bindloss told him: "You arrived illegally in the UK and were placed in the cannabis farm to pay off debt to the people who brought you here.
"You had a limited function and were working under direction."
Judge Bindloss said Stuparu is likely to be deported when he is released from the prison sentence.
Khadim Al'Hassan, defending, said: "He accepts he was involved in the production of cannabis and had been in the premises for three weeks."
Mr Al'Hassan said Stuparu has a wife and child who he was trying to support.
